Friday, May 27, 2016

I have been frantically trying to get the garments done for the Fall Cast On. It would help if I wouldn't rip out my work so much. I broke my resolution of several years ago and didn't write up the pattern for the yoked sweater immediately. It is so much easier if you do it as soon as the garment is finished.

STUDENT NEWS
I haven't had many lessons to review lately which has helped my time management. Don't be so considerate! Send in your lessons!

TIP OF THE WEEK
The coat I am knitting has garter stitch short rows picked up on the sides. After several versions I finally decided the best approach would be to graft a seam from the bottom hem to the underarms. I don't enjoy grafting but when you want a "seamless" look it is the best way to go. I didn't want a bulky seam at the sides of the coat. Grafting garter stitch is really quite easy. As with anything, the process will be easier if you prepare.

First, make sure you have the same number of stitches on both pieces. (Yes, you can graft if you have an additional stitch, it is just simpler if you have the same number. Don't be afraid to decrease a stitch on the last row to accomplish this.)

Second, position the needles properly. To do this, you have to have an understanding of stitch anatomy. On one size of the work, the stitches immediately below the needle are purl bumps.

Compare this photo the photo above. The stitches immediately below the needle are knit stitches.

For the pattern to be maintained, the "purl" side needs to be facing out on Needle 1. For Needle 2, the knit side needs to be facing out. (The video shows how to position the needles.)

Third, you need to decide if you are going to use the working yarn on one of the pieces or if you want to use a separate strand to seam. There are advantages to both. If you use the working yarn there is one less yarn tail to weave in. If you use a separate strand you can do the clean up from both sides, rather than just the left side. (Clean up is discussed later.)

The basic procedure after the set up is to go into the first stitch on Needle 1 purlwise and then the first stitch on Needle 2 purlwise. Then do the following:

Go into the first stitch on Needle 1 knitwise. Drop it from the needle. Go into the second stitch purlwise

Go into the first stitch on Needle 2 knitwise. Drop it from the needle. Go into the second stitch purlwise.

Repeat this steps until only one stitch remains on each needle. Go into the stitch on Needle 1 knitwise and drop it. Do the same for the stitch on Needle 2.Grafting Garter Stitch

Are you done? No. Now you have to clean it up. I tend to do this every few stitches as I find it easier. The one thing you do NOT want to do is to pull the seaming thread tight. This is a real pain to clean up.

Here is what your work might look like when you have finished the actual grafting.

You can clearly see the oversized stitches. To fix this, you have to use a needle to shift the yarn from the right to the left so that it matches the tension of the rest of the piece. In the photo below the needle is in the grafted row. There is a row above that where the tension is uneven where excess yarn from a yarn tail has worked its way into the stitches to the left. In a real project, I would use the same technique to fix this as well.Cleaning up the Graft.

In the example below the yarn has been pulled too tight. This requires more effort to fix.

KNITTING SALON
I will have salon this weekend as I am not going anywhere for the holiday. Stop by if you are in town from 1:30-3:20.

CURRENT PROJECT
I've finished all of the major knitting on the coat. I've worked the garter stitch, grafted it, picked up the fronts and worked the color. Since this is such a simple design I decided to try working the sleeves from the top down and picking up the stitches. I have to say, I REALLY like this method. I've always hated set in sleeves as they've never looked quite right to me. This solves all of those problems. I have to finish the sleeves and then graft the povisional hems. It is going to require seaming as well.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Sorry I didn't post last week. Sometimes life just gets in the way... More yarn keeps arriving for the Yarn Tasting. I am seriously behind! I am getting some great yarn for the door prizes. I am showing restraint from adding to my stash!

STUDENT NEWSJust a reminder...I don't enforce the one year time limit for completion. As long as you ordered the course from me, just send me an email to let me know you want updated materials. If you have the current materials (April 2014) just send in the lesson, no need to email me.TIP OF THE WEEK
Some contacted me who was having difficulty with a tubular bind off in the round. I just happen to be working on a sweater which is knit top down where I bound off the bottom and cuffs to match the tubular cast on for the turtle neck.

I really like the looks of a tubular bind off. If I am doing a project which will be enhanced by a stretchy cast on/bind off, I always chose to do one. I do them often enough that I don't have to look up how to do one anymore!

I find it much easier to do the bind off on K1P1 ribbing that K2P2 ribbing (yes, I know you can do it but I just prefer the look of the K1P1 ribbing) so I convert K2P2 ribbing to K1P1 ribbing. I did a blog entry on this a long time ago. Here is the link: K2P2 to K1P1.The next step of the bind off is to do at least two rows/rounds where you alternate slipping stitches with the yarn in the front or back depending on whether it is a knit or a purl. When you are working in the round, you will work one round where you slip the purl stitches with the yarn in the front and on the next round it will be the knit stitches with the yarn in the back. For the cuffs I did four rounds.

Before doing the next step, I adjust the stitches so that the first stitch on my needle is a purl stitch and if I am using DPNs, I make sure this is the case for all needles. I then cut a long tail (longer than I need, invariably) and thread it with a tapestry needle. If you watch the video you will see that I frequently reverse the words for left and right (some form of dyslexia, perhaps) so I try to use the terms knitwise and purlwise which I don't confuse. My steps follow:

Insert the tapestry needle PURLWISE into the first stitch on the left needle. (It is a purl stitch...see above.) Pull the yarn tight.

Insert the tapestry needle PURLWISE into the knit stitch to the right of the purl stitch, across the purl stitch and into the knit stitch to the left of the purl stitch. Pull the yarn tight.

Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the first stitch and pull the yarn tight.

Drop the purl stitch and knit stitch from the needle.

Repeat these steps until all stitches are worked.

The key thing to remember is that every stitch will be worked twice. When you get to the last knit stitch, remember you worked it when you started so all you have to do is drop it and weave in the yarn tail. Here is a photograph of the finished cuff. Looks pretty good...

Here are links to the videos. The first one shows how to begin. The second one shows how to end.

CURRENT PROJECTS
I finally finished the sweater for Elff. Finishing took quite some time... the yarn is dark and there were lots of rows. I had to get out my OTT light! Elff says she like it and will wear it to shows. If RedFish Dyeworks is at a show, check it out, particularly the inside. My stranding is very good, if I say so myself.

I then knit my first yoked sweater. I'd never done one before. I redid the first section of increases about four times but I liked the final version. Here is the front.

I wanted the cables to extend a bit further on the back so the back is different.

The cables extend even further on the sleeves. You can't really see them in the photograph. I am going to have to steam the center cables on them before the photo shoot.

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